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The US healthcare system is broken. That is unless you work for an opulent healthcare or pharmaceutical provider. In that case, US healthcare works like a charm (from a for-profit perspective).

But let me put my business degree away for a minute. As a citizen and patient, I now believe in universal healthcare in America just like I believe in socialized libraries, policemen, firemen, public schools, and highways. Here are five reasons why:

Socialized medicine doesn’t always mean lower quality. While privatization of industry always increases quality, at what point do you factor in the law of diminishing returns? A system where the rich enjoy superior healthcare at the expense of basic healthcare for the poor and middle class doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen examples in Australia, France, the UK, Canada, and even Brazil where universal healthcare works. It’s not perfect and has its challenges, but do those challenges warrant the insane amount premiums we pay and very poor customer service we get from Cigna, Humana, Blue Cross, etc? I don’t think so. Rumor even has it that socialized Cuba has doctors and technology comparable, if not better than some in the US.

I have received universal healthcare to my satisfaction (usually). I lived in socialized Brazil for two years and received delightful healthcare on several accounts with no superfluous waiting periods. I got stitches in my head for free at a very clean facility, I visited the doctor for cold medication several times only having to pay about $2.50 for drugs, and my roomate got a highly subsidized, quality root canal on demand. I also received sub-par care while having an ingrown toe nail removed in the country, but I’ve also received sub-par medical care here in the good ole US of A. Considering how much a US doctor might have charged for my toe infection, I still would have taken the sub-par, albeit functional Brazilian healthcare in lieu of paying several thousands of dollars for US healthcare. Imagine the possibilities of a high quality, American universal healthcare system, then!

I’ve been screwed by US healthcare (story here). In addition to my parents and numerous other paying clients, US health insurance companies will actually look for ways to maximize profits at the expense of your health. Good business requires the maximization of profits, but good business in this sense compromises life which is ultimately bad business. “Denial management specialists” are real folks, and that’s just wrong.

Doctors can still get paid well by the government. One important factor to remember in this discussion is that doctors in a capital market have the right to achieve limitless financial success. I sympathize with that right but now believe we should socialize that right here in America like we have done for policemen, librarians, municipal workers, fireman, government employees, and any other profession with a salary cap. But socialized medicine doesn’t equal Commie results. And do you know who the number one most desired client is in the private sector? The Federal Government. That’s right, they pay on time, they pay very well, and there’s no reason they wouldn’t do the same for doctors, especially good ones with incentives. If a good family doctor in the socialized UK can make $200,000/year, why can’t it be the same if not better here in the US?

Micheal Moore’s SiCKO makes a convincing, albeit dramatized case. It should be noted that the catalyst of this post was in watching Micheal Moore’s upcoming Sicko documentary on the failure of US healthcare. After seeing the screener, I came away moved and floored, enough in fact to push me over the edge on the subject. The documentary is classic, fact-contorting, and one-sided Moore, but the subject matter speaks for itself. According to the film, the US is the last country in the western hemisphere without universal healthcare while many other countries such as the UK, France, and Cuba enjoy systems that work far more often than they fail. Sure the film glamorizes the disputed and free Canadian healthcare system, but Moore’s film dexterity shines bright, patronizing dialog aside. Filter the filmaker’s bias accordingly, and you’ll find copious amounts of evidence in favor of a universal healthcare system for Americans.

Our privatized healthcare system is ineffective, costly, and dehumanizing. I realize universal healthcare costs money (read: higher taxes), that revolutionizing the system is only possible by including healthcare companies in some way, and that the American dream comes at a price. But must that price include for-profit healthcare that is broken for more people than it superiorly helps? I no longer think so.

DISCLOSURE: I’m a conservative who voted democrat in the last state election, I’m not very active in politics, I believe in smaller government (like cut other state programs in favor of healthcare), I believe in God, I’m a capitalist (usually), and I pay $3600 a year in health premiums at the chance of coverage because my health insurance company has an insane amount of liberty to deny future, present, even past coverage. Now that’s what I call customer service!

24 Comments

You make a good point by comparing health care to education. If you ask me, as far as quality of life goes, health care is more important than education.

Can you imagine if people tried to make the argument that there should be no public schools? I know there’s plenty of flaws with our public schools, but man, they’re WAY better than not having anything at all. When you put health care in that perspective, our current system seems silly at best.

I think you are understating significantly how good the facilities in the U.S. really are. This is evidenced by how our life expectancy is on par or higher than almost all other countries even with our very poor lifestyles (obesity), and the large influx of low income immigrants coming into the country. People travel from all over the world to come here for treatment on the most difficult of cases.

The problem with our healthcare system is we use it too much. People are so unhealthy they are going in constantly. That coupled with the fact that people go in for anything under the sun. Also, thousands of irresponsibly uninsured people are getting free treatment at hospitals every day, and we have to foot the bill. These issues are more to blame for the price increases than anything else.

Correction: Rich people fly from all over the world to receive treatment here.

Does it feel good to champion our health insurance companies? Your above comment does just that while placing blame on users of the system rather than the providers. Furthermore, I don’t think “irresponsibly uninsured people” should be considered when building a system for the majority.

To clarify: US healthcare is second-to-none, but it comes at the deficiency of poor and middle-class care. Thus you must factor the law of diminishing returns when reforming our healthcare. Can utmost care and universal healthcare coexist? I’d like to find out, and I think if anyone can do it, it’s the United States.

I am low income and am self insured and have received good care when I need it even with major surgeries. Could it be better? Of course. I think there might be a happy medium between fully socialized and private, but full socialized medicine has too many problems. In the end it is just another HMO, just run by the government. It is very easy to attack the rich and champion the poor and seem like you are coming out on top. And yes they are tons of irresponsibly uninsured people. Look up the statistics. Of the uninsured people in the U.S. about half earn over 50k! I earn well under that and pay my insurance and am not broke. Just as there are horror stories here, I can give you many more from socialized medicine in Austria, Ukraine, Canada etc etc.

Hear, hear to a hybrid approach. Offer universal care to anyone who wants it (like our public schools available to everyone and anyone courtesy of US taxpayers), and then private care to anyone who wants to pay for it (like private schools courtesy of free enterprise).

I think you’ve already seen me chime in on this, which I am planning on doing after I watch Sicko, but I have a hunch that I may not agree with you on all points. Nevertheless, I’ll wait to chime in until I watch the film.

I think the first problem I see is that the United States is not IS NOT a socialistic society.

What about lawyers? Don’t they have a stake in the blame game? Frivolous lawsuits or the threat of one raises prices by forcing doctors to do many unneeded tests just to cover their assets. I have two very close friends who are doctors who are either finishing up residency or who are full blown on their own docs, both have been sued. Neither of them have lost their cases but they lost money by having to close their office or take time off to meet with insurance companies, lawyers, courts etc etc raising their cost of doing business. Did you know that a doctor cannot counter sue for lost wages or any other costs if the doctor wins? Nope they get to eat the cost. It costs very little to file a lawsuit and thus there is no downside to an attorney for filing a case with or without merit. He can file for 30 cases and all he needs is to win one or settle a couple to make money. Why not make the loser pay the others expenses? What about good Samaritan law that lower a doctors exposure to lawsuits?

What about drug companies? Do they have a part? My wife’s insulin is over $200 a month for her insulin pump. The pump by the way cost more than $6000 and has less technology than the abs brakes on my car. “But its medically certified” whooptee doo it either pumps insulin over time or it doesn’t and checking her blood sugar will tell us if its working. It’s the same insulin that has been manufactured for 40 years. It’s simple and easy to make… but because it’s for use with a pump it has a premium price. No special packaging to make it work it’s the same stuff she used to inject herself with before the pump and she takes less of it. Yet magically there is a 50% premium on it because insulin pump is new technology must cost more. Why not shorten the patents on drugs to induce competitive pricing?

Finally I too have spent quality time in a welfare state…Denmark. No way would I want social medicine. My complaints… bad service by unmotivated professionals, they make the same amount of money if I am healed or if I come back 50 times. I developed rheumatic fever after waiting for 4 weeks to see a doctor for strep. I was sent away because I was not deemed sick enough to change my appointment. I could not see another doctor nor was an ER room an option. A friend stepped on a needle that broke off in his foot. It took 3 days of being in the hospital to have a doctor cut open his foot and take it out. He received 3 stitches and had to come back for a tetanus booster. My landlord a Dane had a hernia and it took 6 months to get him in for surgery.

I currently work for our local government in a quasi-government organization that is 911 and I see inefficiency and waste that curdles my blood in the police and fire departments. I can’t even begin to imagine the ridiculous nature of it all if they started to run my health care system.

Our healthcare system is broken in some areas and other areas it’s the best in the world. I wouldn’t leave it for any other system I have seen. That said, there needs to be more competition and changes in laws regarding Torte, Doctor liability, treating illegals, price controls, drug companies and many other areas. There should be tax relief for providing insurance for businesses. There should be changes in the ability to purchase insurance make it more like car insurance where there are lots of options and prices are controlled by competition.

I have to give you kudos for taking a positon and making an argument. The problem (especally in Utah) is that people will voice their opinions behind others backs – only a few have the “round thingys” to actually go out on a limb and call it the way they see it. So good on you for that.

Now as for your position. Being the son-in-law of a very successful doctor and having been over this subject numerous times over ten years – I can tell you that there are some arguments that you have made that are…well…how do I say it? Flat out wrong? I’m just not sure where to start.

Maybe we should get lunch sometime and I can fill you in on how the legal system and people who don’t pay their bills really drive up the cost of health insurance, why quality of health care does go down in social medicine, what doctors really make, and how medicare compensation for doctors hasn’t changed in over 15 years (so no they will not pay “very well” if we go fully socailized) etc, etc, etc…

The economist in me believes that all free markets eventually find the optimum on their own. However, working for a small company and having really crappy health insurance with very high premiums it makes me believe that there are better options that we should explore.

With that being said I’m not sure that universal health care is the right answer either. I’ve known a lot of Canadians that absolutely hate their health care system and they think that it leads to a poor service on their end when receiving treatment.

Maybe the market will eventually work itself out, but it sure is a crappy time to be a part of it if you’re getting “screwed” by the system.

There are lots of points to be made on this, to be sure, but I think both sides muddy the fundamental issue:

There are people, today, that cannot afford heathcare. There are people, today, who are sick and there are medicines that exist that can cure them. Who gives a flying f**k about money? Are we saying that someone’s profession is more important than whether or not someone who is not well off lives, dies, or at best lives a life in pain or discomfort? I don’t really care if “that’s just how it is” — it shouldn’t be, and that point is un-arguable.

When people apply money and economics and “insurance premiums” to something as basic as health and life, it makes me — pardon the cliche — sick.

Healthcare shouldn’t be a privilege. It’s a right. If that means a doctor goes out of business here and there, so be it.

Okay, I’ve seen the movie, and it is very powerful, but I think it should be watched with some caution because universal healthcare “appears” to be a no-brainer after you watch it. Moore highlights some important issues, but he only scratches the surface on what should be considered in the decision making process for considering healthcare in the U.S.

I see many of Michael Moore’s exact points in your five points, which is fine, but I’m wondering what it’s like to hear the opinions of people who don’t like universal healthcare. I’d like to hear the opinions of the insurance industry, hospitals, etc…

Are there other reasons you support it other than the ones Moore stated?

Points 2, 3, and 4 above have nothing to do with Sicko and come from my personal experience and/or musings. I’ve supported at least socialized pharmas long before this movie came out, and point 1 isn’t exclusive to Sicko either. Besides, can’t an extremist like Moore be partially right despite his unfair tactics?

From a cursory perspective, it seems as if universal healthcare is the best answer, assuming you feel our current system is broken. Regarding your first comment, I believe the US can and will remain a democratic state even if it fully or partially socializes its medical care.

We have socialized k-12 public education (the state of Georgia has socialized college assuming you maintain a B grade point avg), a socialized police force, etc and that does not make this country a “socialistic society,” just a well-rounded democracy.

– I don’t think his tactics are fair or unfair. I think they’re dishonest and don’t tell the whole story.

– U.S. healthcare is already partially socialized with Medicaire and Medicaid.

– Just because certain things in this country are already socialized doesn’t mean that 1) They work well, and 2) They are done on sound principle. I could go on and on about public education as one example.

Here’s some interesting tid-bits on socialized medicine that Moore doesn’t address . . . sure he goes to the doctor’s office to talk about how long it takes to get in on that initial visit, but what about what happens after? Here’s some info . .

Typical Wait Times in Canada (after initial visit to a general practitioner)

Now, again, I saw the film, and I think we can do better, MUCH BETTER, in this country on healthcare, but Michael Moore and those pushing universal healthcare are using people’s unfortunate stories and the emotion of it all to push something on people in this country that “appears” to be a good idea and isn’t.

I have to say, I really agree with some comments and not particularly with the original thread. With the first comment by Nicholos Roussos, you see there actually is a very good argument against the public school system. Everyone involved in public schools knows that it’s a system that can’t be fixed. That’s why voucher have been talked about so much in the last decade. It’s a system that fails to meet needs and uses the majority of its resources in unproductive areas. Also, it costs us more than it would for a private school. Remember, the money to run this comes out of our pockets. The problem with the hybrid system is that you’re basically telling the middle-income and rich to pay for their own health care and foot the bill of everyone else as well. I don’t think that will fly with most voters.

I was recently in Taiwan and they have a successful universal health care system. I asked one of our hosts how they have made it work. He, having spent some time in the US, said, “You don’t understand how different our cultures are. I do not personally know anyone that has ever had a surgery. We pay for preventative methods ourselves and hopefully never have to go to the hospital.” That is a huge difference and the argument could be made that our society is much too focused on band-aid fixes, but you can’t implement a system because you think everyone needs to fix the way they think. They won’t vote for that.

A lot has been said in this thread on this Weblog 2.0. After reading through this to me two things are clear:

1- Our health care system has some major issues that need to be fixed.

2-Universal Health Care is the sexy, easy, incorrect solution to the problem.

So what is the solution? I’m not sure, but I can tell you this I work for a small company and they have provided me with the option for a health savings account. I’m not going to go into all of the details explaining how an HSA works, but it has been a pretty cool way to approach my personal health care needs. Now I realize that a HSA is not the solution to the entire health care problem. My point is our society needs to use it’s creativity to try and come up with real solutions to this problem and not look for the easy way out. Who knows there could be someone sitting in the Provo Labs incubator right now with the solution we are all looking for. If not, maybe a hybrid is a good place to start.

On a side note, Blake I will always laugh when I think of you cracking your skull in Brazil. Man I wish I would have had that on camera, YouTubers would eat that ish up

I agree one hundred fifty percent. We live in the best damn country in the whole damn world. We lead! We don’t follow! We don’t need to do something because the “dog” (society) tells us to. So what if the rest of the world does it? We blaze our own trail and if people get hurt along the way, so be it.

This isn’t some hodge podge start up country. This is AMERICA and we love the red, white, and blue. Since when do we do what Canada does? We don’t! THEY do what we tell them to do. When we come up with a better plan than what Canada has, I can guarantee that they will follow us. Why? Cause we’re AMERICA damnit.

I’m having a hard time with this topic because after watching “Sicko” it is a no brainer that America should move to socialized medicine. However, after watching other pieces of Moore’s work, I am aware that he is not the type of person that I would normally agree with. That being said, I think that if the insurance and drug companies would all go non-profit, we wouldn’t be having any problems with them. Yes, I am aware that this will never happen. I just think that I might stop hating insurance companies if they weren’t making a profit off me getting sick/having a baby.

I was just watching CNN and saw a blogger on Rick Sanchez’s show who said Universal Health Care would be horrible because there are massive waiting lists…well, I’m a Canadian, lived in Canada all my life, and in my 30 years, I have never heard of, or know anyone who has had to wait for healthcare. I hear so much garbage coming out of the U.S. Media, it boggles my mind. It is a fact that if the United states offered the same Universal Health Care that Canada offers, they would actually save about 200 Billion dollars a year!! There is so much wasteful spending on programs that are broken, constantly trying to protect the interests and profits of the insurance companies.

Insurance companies in canada still make billions on selling extra insurance to cover pharmaceuticals, something I dont need or want because I’ve never paid more then $20.00 for medicine.

If I get a cold, I dont have to think about my wallet.

There is a mentality with some americans that say “Why do I have to pay for someone else”. Well, Your taxes are paying for other peoples kids to go to school, for the police officer to arrest that bad guy down the house from your street, the fireman who put out that burning house…come on guys…grow up. The USA is the only industrialized country without healthcare…greed is bad, and will be your downfall.

I’m a UK citizen, and while the NHS isn’t perfect I don’t want to imagine this country without it. Being a chronic migraine sufferer I’ve had run in’s with the NHS on numerous occassions; I’m practically best friends with my GP. And i’ve never had ANY issues.. I’ve had surgery in the past on other parts of my body, no issue, no ridiculous waiting time.. I was referred to a neurologist and okay, I had to wait, but that was only because I wasn’t top priority, I’d had migraines for years and they were only double checking.. And my wait time was not nearly as long as I expected.. 2 weeks maybe.. My friend had brain cancer, and I’ve not heard him once complain about the service he was given.

Now take America on the the other hand, I’ve had one run in with your health service, and I hope never to have to again. After finally working out where I had to go just to see a doctor for a non-emergency.. Some place in the back of a drug store.. Strange, considering I’m used to going to a doctors surgery.. Then having to muck about with insurance since I’m British, then having to wait, then getting a really slow service.. Just for her to charge me $200 for her to look into my ears and prescribe me ear drops. $200 for that?! I almost collapsed. The ear drops didn’t even work that well.. I then had to come home and use my own health service. And they sorted it. Instantly. For a healthcare system which drained my pocket I expected far better. I know which system I would prefer.

I lived in the US from up to age 12 and then in Canada from 13 to 38 and then returned to the US. Most Americans don’t know how well Canada’s one payer system works. Canadian doctors can practise in the US without any additional testing. My parents and other family members only have good things to say about Canada’s healthcare system. No system is perfect, but as for me, those that I know that live in Canada and knowledgeable people in the US, they prefer the Canadian system. Canadians on average live longer that Americans by about 1.5 years. Part of that is due to being more active, a lower violent crime rate, better designed highways and other factors.

The US healthcare system is extremely inefficient. When I went to a clinic in Montreal there was only one person handling the phone and records for 6 or more doctors. While in Montreal I got a letter from the government asking if I saw my doctor for such and such, to keep the system honest.

Here in the US I went to an office with two doctors in private practice. They had 5 people handling the telephone and records. About a year later in 1987 or so I got a letter from my doctor saying that he was getting out of private practice as he was spending too many Saturdays at work (doing insurance paper work.

Most American’s probably don’t know that US insurance companies do not provide speech therapy for children. They classify the ‘problem’ as developmental and due to that don’t cover it. In Canada speech therapy is covered by their healthcare system. The best time for speech therapy for children is when they they are of preschool age as their speech is developing and speech patterns are not set. At a conference for stutterers in the late 1980’s, I heard Dr Woody Starkweather, who was a professor at Temple University and a world expert in stuttering in children, say that if he could work with a preschool age child and their parents that the child would develop into a regular speaker. Woody did work with many pre-school age children. That does cost the parents money as it is not covered by insurance. Some parents do take their preschool age child to university speech therapy clinics in the US and pay for the therapy out of pocket.

The US does provide speech therapy in the public school system, which is good but is not the optimal time to provide speech therapy to children. Speech behaviors are normally much more difficult to modify at that point.

If you are an adult stutter in the US you will have to search to find an effective speech therapy program and pay out of pocket. On the other hand an adult stutter living in Canada in a major city can probably find an effective speech therapy program locally and a support group there to practice the ‘tools’ learned after therapy.

Political Action Commities (PAC) seem to be the invisible hand that sway the political system in the US. In mid-july polls indicated that 80% of the US voters want a reduction of the federal deficit by a combination of cuts, and higher taxes by closing loop holes or increased taxes on the top income earners. But 100% of the Republicans, publicly, are against any tax increases. PACs are apparently controlled by the wealthest Americans. Canada does not have any PACs and I would assume that is true for most of the G7 nations, except the US.